Smooth Money Gesture brings improv rock to Alma

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The original drummer referenced a newly built road in Alaska that made it easier to get around. He said, "that was a smooth money gesture." That is how we came up with the name -very random, but it somehow stuck.

The heart of the band, bassist Dan Diminico and guitarist Doug Diminico, grew up playing around the Boston area. Dan moved up to Alaska and Doug followed and that is when they officially started Smooth Money Gesture. About six years ago, they decided they wanted to move back down to the "lower 48," and Nederland seemed like the right place to relocate the band. They moved down and that is where they've been ever since.

High energy, improvisational rock - but that is a generalization. There are elements of funk, blues, jazz, Latin, calypso, bluegrass and reggae in every set we perform.

Haha ... if we had to compare SMG to a breed of dog, SMG would definitely be a Rottweiler: loud, very vocal, intelligent, intense, but relaxed when they need to be. And you have to agree that they are some of the best looking dogs on the planet. Those are all characteristics that you can find in SMG's band members and their music.

We actually performed a show at the Boulder Theater entitled "Smooth Money Gesture plays The Band: A Tribute to Levon Helm." It couldn't have been more spot on. Like The Band's songs, our songs have a lot of structure with strong vocals and lyrics, but we always create sections in our songs that could transition into a deep, funky and/or intense jam.

Well, these days it is rather easy to set yourself apart from the majority. Any Joe Shmoe can grab a computer and some software for making beats and they're a superstar. We bring that classic rock sound. We've been on tour for most of 2012 and it seems like everywhere we go, someone says, "You guys would have been superstars back in the '60s and '70s." As mentioned before, our songs come with strong vocals, lyrics and instrumentals that send you back to the era of Hendrix, The Band, The Allman Brothers, Santana, etc. You can feel the passion anytime you listen to an SMG album, or catch an SMG show.

Too many to remember... Nowadays, most of our crazy experiences are due to the converting of our bus to a veggie oil-powered bus. We've had countless nights on the road where we'll wake up to whoever is driving saying, "We're at McDonald's boys; let's get that veggie oil!"